Sorry for the delay, friends - I was involved in a huge charity gaming event this weekend, which took up quite a bit of my time and head pace. Here we are, though, with some nice Sunday morning reading for you. It's a nice spread between science-fiction and fantasy (with one Pick solidly mixing the two). Definitely a week for fans of 5e, Pathfinder, and games by Modiphius.

One of Modiphius‘s latest conquests (and there are many!) is the realms of Conan, and this new core book brings the definitive sword-and-sorcery wellspring to life for 21st Century gamers. There’s a huge team of excellent creators behind this, as well.

WELCOME TO THE HYBORIAN AGE!

KNOW, O PRINCE, THAT BETWEEN THE YEARS WHEN THE OCEANS DRANK ATLANTIS AND THE GLEAMING CITIES, AND THE YEARS OF THE RISE OF THE SONS OF ARYAS, THERE WAS AN AGE UNDREAMED OF, WHEN SHINING KINGDOMS LAY SPREAD ACROSS THE WORLD LIKE BLUE MANTLES BENEATH THE STARS…

Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of takes you into the world of Conan the Barbarian, where heroes raise blood-spattered swords against dire sorcery, exotic lands beckon to the daring, danger and treasure lurks in forgotten ruins, and where loathsome creatures haunt the spaces beneath the earth… as well as in the throne-rooms of mighty kingdoms!

Seek your fortune in forbidden tombs or upon blood-soaked battlefields. Cast dark and terrible spells of unimaginable power, at the price of your soul. Sail upon untamed seas to lands where no human in living memory has walked. Fight for the fate of civilization — or barbarism — on a savage frontier!

Create your own legend in this decadent and violent world.

Complete 2d20 game system, including combat, skills, talents, sorcery, and equipment suitable for adventuring in the age before history.

An extensive gazetteer covering the whole of Conan’s world: featuring fair Aquilonia, gloomy Cimmeria, magic-haunted Stygia, all the way to the far-off steaming jungles of Khitai.

With the much-anticipated Paizo release of Starfinder (and a clear callback to the old D&D setting, Spelljammer), the folks as d20pfsrd.com decided to get a jump ahead of the Gen Con release and get their take on space fantasy gaming with Pathfinder into your hands.

Welcome to the Void. Welcome to Starjammer!

Some people look to the stars and wonder what they are, what they mean, and what is out there.

Your characters are about to find out.

Welcome to Starjammer, a wild ride through the void built upon and compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This tome is over 200 pages of star-exploring options, including:

Four new player character races including the Abiarazi (shapechanging oozes), the Manu (innovative crafters of magitech), the Pasimachi (a beetle-like hive race with a wealth of genetic variations(, and the Transgenics (half human/half alien nomads)!

A toolbox approach to creating and customizing your own spacefaring vessels to travel the stars as explorers, traders, pirates, mercenaries, or even as a part of an organized space fleet!

New racial options, archetypes, and traits for all of the new races as well as for the core Pathfinder Roleplaying Game races!

Today’s Pick takes us back (after much too long, I admit) to the realm of the Dungeon Masters Guild (the sister site to DriveThruRPG that is a showcase for all things D&D, including fan creations). One interesting development in recent years is the desire to make “the little guys” of the D&D world a far-greater threat than most players care to allow for. This adventure is all about making heroes respect kobolds… or die from the lack of it.

From the creator of platinum best seller Journey Through the Center of the Underdark comes the next level of action – Killer Kobolds! – A high octane, edge of your seat, seat of your pants, run and gun thrill ride for your 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game.

(You’re reading that with that movie trailer guy’s voice in your head, right? Ok good. On with the pitch…)

Life was peaceful in the pleasant village of Thornyfoot… until the Kobolds of nearby Crag Canyon started kidnapping their kids! Now the distraught villagers turn to a rag tag group of adventurers, who just happened to be having a drink at the local inn, to save the day.

Do your heroes have what it takes, the right stuff, the metal, the intestinal fortitude, to fend off the Kobold Hunting Drakes, face the Kobold Commandos, take down the Kobold Air Cavalry and yes… defeat the Kobold Covergirl with the Gun? Will they climb the treacherous canyon, survive the forest gauntlet, storm the fortified keep, raid the dastardly dungeon and thwart the big bad evil nefarious kobold plot? Or will they die a horrible, brutal, violent, traumatic, explosive death?

There’s only one way to find out.

Killer Kobolds! Action just leveled up.

Killer Kobolds is designed for a party of four to eight characters of levels 8 through 12, but could readily be tweaked to accommodate parties of lesser or greater strength. Intentionally set in an entirely generic small village in need, Killer Kobolds can be easily dropped into any Dungeons and Dragons setting. The content within could readily be worked in to your Tyranny of Dragons, Elemental Evil, Rage of Demons or Storm King’s Thunder campaign – heck, the guy writing this ran it between the first and second half of Out of the Abyss. Piece of cake.

Cubicle 7 continues their most excellent efforts in bringing Middle-earth to the D&D 5e fan base. The Player’s Guide has been out for a while now, and people are loving it, and now a more complete set of tools for the DM (called Loremaster here) are in hand. Hopefully, we’ll see a manual of monsters and creatures in the near future, especially since I am supposed to be running this soon for folks at the local game store.

In Adventures in Middle-earth™ the greatest fantasy setting of all time comes to the world’s favourite roleplaying game rules! Take your gaming group to Middle-earth with this thematic and atmospheric, OGL-compatible setting guide.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

The world’s greatest fantasy setting comes to the world’s most popular roleplaying game rules!

This Loremaster’s Guide presents inspiration, guidance and additional new rules to help you create and run encounters, adventures and campaigns in the world of The Hobbit™ and The Lord of the Rings™, using the OGL ruleset.

The quest that began in the Player’s Guide continues in this lavishly illustrated, hardcover Adventures in Middle-earth Loremaster’s Guide. Packed with information, this volume is an invaluable resource for your games.

Adventures in Middle-earth Loremaster’s Guide contains:
• Extensive setting information for Wilderland
• A comprehensive guide to Lake-town
• Advice for before the game begins on theme and building your character group
• Notes on the Adventuring phase, inspiration, rests and more!
• Expanded journey rules, including guidance on narrating Middle-earth journeys
• Information to help you create your own journey tables
• A guide to creating and playing NPCs, and a gallery of NPCs for your games
• A Wilderland bestiary of adversaries
• New rules for customising monsters and using scenery in battle
• Notes on treasure in Middle-earth, magic items and weapons
• A guide to offering expanded magic options
• Advice on running the Fellowship phase, patrons, sanctuaries and undertakings

Science-fiction is huge again in gaming, folks, and Modiphius is coming fast-and-furious with the releases on all fronts. The house that will bring you a new Star Trek RPG is showing you their sci-fi chops with this decidedly Traveller-esque game of action and exploration.

“I’m getting a signal.” Dalil’s voice crackled over the com. “We’re close.” The navigator gazed into the darkness ahead, his face ghostly pale in the cold glow from the tabula in his hands.

Radwa nodded silently for her comrades to advance, approaching the strange ruins in the moonscape. The only sound they could hear was their own breathing through the air filters, and the soft crunch under their boots.The floodlights from the freighter Narzalus behind them cast long shadows of the trio.

“Something is wrong, boss.” The sharp voice of Jhara broke the silence. Her vulcan rifle hummed as the tall woman from Sadaal activated her weapon. Without turning, Radwa raised her hand to still her friend.

“Easy, Jha,” she whispered over the com.

The explorers shone their suit-mounted flashlights over the ruins. Alien signs were carved into the smooth dark surfaces. In the light, they seemed to be glowing.

Something slowly unraveled before them. A darkness rose from the surface of the dead moon, reaching towards the starry sky above them.

“Mercy of the Icons!” Radwa gasped, and felt a chill spread throughout her body.

Coriolis – The Third Horizon is a science fiction role-playing game from the makers of critically acclaimed Mutant: Year Zero (six-time nominee and winner of a Silver Ennie for Best Rules 2015).

Features:

Create your unique player character – including skills, talents, gear and relationships – in mere minutes.

Fight fast and furious battles, praying to the Icons to overcome your enemies.

Build and crew your own spaceship, to explore the many star systems of the Third Horizon.

Experience thrilling spaceship duels, using a game system that puts all player characters at the heart of the action.

Take part in the intrigue between powerful factions on the majestic space station Coriolis.

Uncover the mysteries of the Third Horizon, a rich tapestry of cultures that have settled the stars.

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It's been a grand weekend of gaming and fun so far, as well as doing some real good in the world. Friday had us playing the VENOM Assault board game, as well as getting back to the classic (and highly expanded) Dominion.

Yesterday, as part of the Gamers Giving for the Waters Family event, I ran Freedom Squadron and got to play in Scott Field'sChampions game (where, after so many years, I finally faced Foxbat himself) and Ron Ringenbach's excellent Rippers-meets-Super Powers Companion game, "Hex Men."

Paladin with a sword that drives him mad with bloodlust? Yeah, OK, I can do that.

Today, another session of Freedom Squadron, and another one tomorrow night for Monday Night Savages. As I did with Shaintar, I've decided to run all of my FS games as part of one ongoing, uber-campaign. Everyone keeps their characters, levels up, and plays in the always-new stories I will run at cons, game days, and home games.

Because I am crazy that way! Still, everything about this setting is perfect for that approach. Since folks are likely to face some ocean-based combat and threats today, let's take a look at another Freedom Squadron hero and his pet bird, Bulkhead and Rivet.

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The Free League are producing some brilliant games. So glad to see the Swedes getting their games out in English... wealth of talent and ideas over there. My Kickstarter copy of Coriolis arrived a week ago and is a thing of beauty

So looking forward to the arrival of my Kickstarter Coriolis stuff. I have had a print out of the Quickstart rules for ages and love it. I can't read the whole PDF - I need the print products to arrive

(So wish I had got onto other games whilst at KS stage as I want them now and price entry is hard. Games I wish to purchase in near future: Mtuant: Year Zero, Shadow of the Demon Lord, and a game from Australia (where I am) that I have been meaning to get for some time: Fragged Empire).

Dry erase boards. Flip mats. Graph paper. Lego. Theater of the Mind. All of these are valid, tried-and-true methods of tracking movement/combat in Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. While I've employed all of these in the past, nothing has worked better for my games than the dungeon tile.

Here at EN World, I'mlookingatall-agestabletoprole-playinggames, board games, andcard games. Do they engage the players at the kids' gaming table? Would they cut it at the adults' table? Are they genuinely fun for every age? Amazing Tales is "a game for children who love adventures". Martin Lloyd's RPG is designed for a GM and one or two young players, and includes the rules, GM tips for young gamers, four settings with adventure hooks, and more.

The campaign that our group will be starting next week (and that I wrote a little bit about here last week) got me to thinking about martial arts role-playing games in general. I am probably by no means an aficionado of martial arts movies, or media, but I have enjoyed some Chinese martial arts films over the years (my first college roommate was/is a martial artist and fan of the movies). Plus, I am more of a fan of contemporary settings, and unfortunately the number of games that combine these two things are few. However, today I am going to talk about the Tianxia: Blood, Silk and Jade role-playing game from Jack Norris and Vigilance Press.

In Mythras, player characters are tied to family, village, and cults and their quests change the world around them and influence the direction of society’s growth. Mythras is mythic in scope and the PCs create legends with their adventures. This review covers a newcomer’s overall impression of Mythras.